


Doubt that the Stars are Fire

by aintweproudriff



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Gen, M/M, Nonbinary Crutchie, Slow Burn-ish, Support your local businesses, ish, meals as a way to have conflict(tm), specs knows all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-02-23 04:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23405575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: Katherine's bookshop, "Write Way Books," has been in the same place for years, and it's a well-established business. When Crutchie's toy store moves out and Sarah Jacobs's coffee shop, "Moonrise Mocha" moves in, Katherine has to deal with her new (not so) horrible neighbor.
Relationships: (background), Crutchie/David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Sarah Jacobs/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> aaaa quarantine really has me writing newsies fics again. how about that??? newsbians and jackdaveycrutchie though (side note: y'all came up with the idea to call it "three's the day" while I was on newsies hiatus and I'm pissed about it. it's such a good name. i can't believe).
> 
> If anyone's happy about me posting more fic, all thanks can be directed to my amazing girlfriend. Their idea for this possessed me to get at least this first chapter done.

Katherine closed the door to her car and checked her phone for any new notifications. She didn’t know why she expected any. At 8:30 in the morning, most of her friends weren’t awake yet, let alone in a state to be able to communicate. The notifications she’d had when she woke up an hour and a half ago were from 3:00 in the morning, when her friends actually were awake. The fact that most of them didn’t need to be up until 9:00, which was when her store opened, made it difficult to spend time with them. Their schedules were too out-of-sync.  
Still, she would never give up this walk in the early mornings. She always parked her car up the hill from the front door to her bookshop, and loved taking deep breaths on the way down. Especially on summer mornings like this one, when the sun made everything warm but not hot, and the day felt hopeful, she had to smile. Katherine swung the keys on her lanyard and heard them jangle, and she still felt the same rush of accomplishment that she had when she signed the lease on the store. This was her place. She had dreamed of having her own bookstore since high school, and now she was the proud owner of “Write Way Books.” Nothing was better.  
She slid the key into the lock, and was pushing open the door when she heard an unfamiliar voice. 

“Good morning! I guess we’re neighbors, then?”

Katherine looked up and to her right, where a woman stood. She was about her age, with a round face, dark colored jeans, and an ugly green t-shirt. She grinned, like she’d told a joke that Katherine was supposed to understand. 

“Um, are we?” Katherine asked. 

The girl blinked, like she had expected the conversation to go better. “Oh! I’m sorry. I’m moving into this space-” she gestured to the door where Crutchie’s shop used to be “-today. It’s going to be a coffee shop.”

Katherine gave a flat smile. “I’d heard that, yeah. Good luck getting set up!” Without waiting for an answer from the girl, she waved, turned her keys in the door, and pushed it open. She flicked the lights on, and heard the door close behind her.  
Maybe she wasn’t being fair to this girl, Katherine thought as she walked to her office door at the back of the shop. She unlocked the wood door and sighed at how messy she’d left the desk. Orders and receipts for books were laid in disorganized piles. She straightened each of them up, and filed away the ones she no longer needed. She moved pens left on the desk back into their cup, and wiped crumbs into the trash can. Her bi pride flag went back to its rightful spot, too. She’d let it fall over, and stuck it into the hole she’d drilled in the desk so it would stand up. Once everything was clean, she walked back into the store. At least everything was clean in there.  
She pulled her phone out of her back pocket. 8:55. 5 minutes until opening. Not that it really mattered if she opened the door five minutes early or five minutes late. She shrugged to herself, unlocked the door, and flipped the sign to open. As it was still early, she knew no one would show up for a while. Silently, she stood at the checkout counter and let her eyes scan the room. Halfway through, they got stuck on the door between two tall shelves. If it was open, she would be able to see right into the space where the woman she’d met this morning was setting up her coffee shop. This time last year, and even a few months ago, it would have led her into Crutchie’s toy shop. That had been the perfect partnership. She and Crutchie had been best friends from the day she’d opened “Write Way Books.” She’d met all of their friends, which had been wonderful, since she was new to the city without any connections. Crutchie’s friends quickly became her friends, and then one of them, Jack, became her boyfriend. It hadn’t lasted long. Mostly, Jack had been on the rebound from some girl Katherine had never met, and she was so excited to live in a new city with a new group of friends that she figured she may as well go the full mile and date someone new. After the breakup, Crutchie had complained to her about how they were all but in love with Jack and Davey, and she’d done the right thing; gotten over Jack and helped get the three of them in a relationship. She took particular pride in how well it had worked. 

When Crutchie had told her that they were moving the location of the toy store, her heart had broken. She worried she would lose them, along with all her other friends. Thankfully, it hadn’t happened. She went over to Crutchie’s house almost every night, so more often than not she also saw Crutchie’s boyfriends, and any combination of the dozen or so friends that spent time at Crutchie’s.  
Selfishly, Katherine had also worried about losing business once Crutchie’s toy store left. They used to keep the door open between the two shops, and parents who bought toys for their kids were also encouraged to buy books, both for the kids and for themselves. Between the two businesses, they helped each other make money. It was a highly personal and professional relationship, and being on the verge of losing it scared Katherine more than anything. So forgive her if she was a little cold to the girl this morning. She wasn’t Crutchie, and that felt like an offense. 

At 9:30 on the dot, construction sounds overwhelmed her store. She kept waiting for the noise to end, but it didn’t. Instead, it continued for hours. Every customer she had that day commented on it, and asked if she had any explanation. One of the customers, a young mother with a little boy, felt the need to apologize for him, as he covered his ears the entire time they were in the store. Katherine told the woman that she couldn’t blame him, and that if she could cover her ears and still run her business, she would.  
Katherine normally closed the shop at 6:00. At 5:30, when the noise was still happening, she decided to take the risk of closing early. She had the worst headache, and she was sure that she hadn’t had as many customers as she should have. The noise was driving people, including her included, away. She taped a sign to the door: “Closed early. Thank you for coming. Please come back tomorrow.”  
She counted out the drawer she had been using for the day, locked the money in the safe, locked up her office, and turned out the lights in the shop. As she was locking the front door to the shop, she paused. The noise from the shop next door had gone on all day, and she needed to know if it was done, or at least if it had been worthwhile for someone else. She looked into the store, and when she couldn’t see very well, took a breath and knocked on the door. The woman from earlier answered, construction goggles and a face mask covering her features. 

“Hi!” she greeted Katherine, stepping outside. She pulled down the face mask, and pushed up the glasses. “How are you?”

Katherine did her best not to laugh. “Honestly? Not great. With all the noise from over here, I’ve had a tough day trying to keep customers in my store long enough that they’ll buy something, and I have the biggest headache of my life. So,” she grinned. “I though I’d stop by and say a friendly hello.”

“I’m so sorry,” the girl said. “I didn’t even realize you could hear it. Lucky for you, tomorrow will be the last day when construction — loud construction, anyway, is happening.”

“You mean it’s going on for another day?” Katherine raised her eyebrows. “Couldn’t you get it to happen at a time that won’t hurt my business?” 

“I really am sorry, but I told the workers who are helping me that it would be two day jobs, from 9:30 to 6:00. I’m not going to change their hours. I was talking to them today, and two of them have kids they never get to see because they’re home late. They’re glad to have a 6:00 end time.”

“One more day of construction, then?” asked Katherine. 

“Yep. One more day.”

She shook her head. “Alright then.”

As she turned to walk away, the girl yelled from behind her. “I never learned your name!”

She turned around. “I’m Katherine.”

“Katherine,” the girl said, and smiled, seeming happy to have won something small. Her cheeks flushed slightly. “I’m Sarah.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol Almost two months later, i finally update this fic! I've been feeling guilty about it, so I figured it was time to sit down and get a move on. Hope you enjoy!

The next morning, Katherine struggled to carry three boxes full of books down the hill. She had ordered them a week and a half ago, and she must have entered the wrong address on the order form on the site of her provider, because they shipped to her apartment rather than the bookshop. So she fought with them and put them in the back of her car, and then lugged them from her car to the front door. The stack was so high that she could just barely see over it, but she knew the path well enough that she didn’t need to see in front of her.   
She stopped in front of her door, and reached into her pocket for her key. For some reason, it became especially difficult to grab, and she fiddled with it for a second before being able to pull it out. Just as she was going to push it into the lock, a force barreled into her and sent the box on the top of her stack flying out of her arms, hitting her in the nose as it flew backwards. A dozen books fell through the top of the box and landed on the wet pavement. 

“What the fuck?” she yelled, not realizing how loud her voice was. 

“Oh my god, I am so sorry,” Sarah, who Katherine thought might just be her new worst enemy, started blathering. “I wasn’t looking where I was going, because I had these boxes in my face.” She shrugged her shoulders and Katherine could see that she, too, was holding supplies for her store. 

“It’s fine,” Katherine shook her head. “It’s fine. Just be more careful next time.”

Sarah nodded rapidly. “I will, I promise. One hundred percent. Let me-” she put her stack of boxes on the cement and picked up Katherine’s fallen box. She went to gather the books that fell out, as well, gingerly grabbing each one. Katherine wanted to protest, to say she didn’t need any help, but the truth was, she wouldn’t have been able to unlock her front door with that box in her arms, and she didn’t want to take two trips. It was easier to let Sarah help. Instead of saying anything, Katherine opened her door and stepped through, keeping it open long enough for Sarah to step in and look around. 

“You can just put it down there, on the desk,” Katherine told her, and nodded to where she meant. 

Sarah did as Katherine directed, and sighed once the books were out of her arms.   
“Your store is beautiful,” she said, looking at Katherine directly. “So comfortable.”

Katherine sighed. “Yeah, um, thank you. And thanks for your help. Have a good day, Sarah.”

“Oh. Thank you. You too, Katherine.” Sarah’s voice grew sad, almost disappointed, and she turned and walked out the door. 

Katherine sighed and began unpacking the books, carefully inspecting the ones that had fallen on the ground. She knew just the shelf where she could put them, and already had a display design idea. She could picture it in her mind’s eye, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how Sarah had assumed she could get comfortable in the bookstore, even after she had caused such a hassle. It was rude, to say the least. After all, it wasn’t like Katherine had ever invited herself into Sarah’s store. Although, now that she thought about it, she had walked into the neighboring shop without asking yesterday. But she had an important question to ask! She only wanted to know how much longer the construction would be going on.   
Like she had summoned it, the building noises started up again, and she groaned. Katherine looked at her watch, and stepped over to flip the sign to open. Of course, nobody showed up right at opening, so she got to work on actually constructing the display for her new set of books. 

Throughout the entire day, the noise from next door strained her ears. She took a painkiller with her lunch, and another with her cup of afternoon tea. By the end of the day, she had seen almost no customers, and was worn out. Once again, she decided to close up early. She began to go through her closing-time routine. Fluff the pillows in the story-time corner, dust the tops of the shelves, take out the trash in her office. It was 5:25, and Katherine was fed up with being in her own store. No matter how cozy it was, and no matter how much Sarah called it “comfortable,” it wasn’t livable with all that racket. 

After she closed, she hiked up the hill to her car, and watched the sun begin to set during her drive home. She felt selfish every time she missed Crutchie being right next door. After all, them moving their shop was a good thing. It was a better location, a bigger store, and closer to the apartment where they, Jack, and Davey lived. Still, she missed them. She missed knowing that if business was slow, she could go next door for a chat, and leave with a smile on her face. She missed Crutchie poking their head through the door that connected the shop, whispering to ask if she had a spare moment to talk about boy problems. Fuck, she missed when Crutchie had boy problems. Before they got everything figured out with Jack and Davey, they needed her. And now, obviously, they didn’t.   
Katherine used to love having her best friend right next door. What kind of sick joke was it that her best friend moved away, and her newest enemy moved in? 

Pink and then orange light dwindled over the horizon line as Katherine pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex. She walked up the stairs and through the door, collapsing on the couch as soon as she could. Flipping through her phone, she found Crutchie’s contact information. 

“Can I come over tonight?” she texted them. 

“no, sorry!” they responded. “date night. tomorrow?”

She sighed, and typed out: “Sure, sounds great!” 

And as the sun set that night, she couldn’t stop remembering the friendship she used to have with Crutchie, and how it felt ruined. By a fucking sweet, innocent-looking, clumsy girl with a space-themed coffee shop. She couldn’t wait to tell Crutchie all about how horrible the new situation was, and how much she couldn’t stand her new neighbor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh enemies to lovers. i've never been good at it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack! Davey! Crutchie! Lots and lots of dialogue! All this and more in chapter 3!

She knocked on Crutchie’s door the next evening holding a bottle of red wine. Jack answered the door. 

“Hey, Katherine!” He pointed at the bottle in her hand. “Is that for me?” 

“Absolutely not,” she laughed. “You’re not the one with the new worst neighbor in the world, a giant headache — metaphorical and literal — and you have two wonderful partners who love you. I could drink this whole thing and still be valid, and if you get drunk after two glasses, you’ll be overdoing it.”

He stepped back, letting her come in. “Woah, okay. Are you okay?”

She steps into the soft glow of the living room. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?” She asks, smiling sarcastically. While she and Jack were dating, the two of them had gotten along like a house on fire. After they broke up, it had been awkward, but it hadn’t taken long to get back to the dynamic they once had when Crutchie admitted that they were in love with Jack.   
She sees Davey in the kitchen and waves. 

“Is alcohol abuse the best way to deal with your problems? We blacked out like, two weeks ago because you were upset.” Davey calls, half teasing, without bothering to actually greet her. She loves Davey. So much so, in fact, that he is the only one who could tease her like that. If Jack, or even Crutchie, coached her like Davey does, she’d bite their head off. The way Davey did it was different. He made it obvious that even when he acted like a parent, he did the same dumb shit as everyone else. 

“Maybe not,” she conceded, “but drinking too much alcohol never hurt anyone, right?”

He rolled his eyes, knowing she was joking. “Crutchie’s on their way home from work right now, and I’ll have dinner ready once they get back.” Looking up at her, he pointed to the bottle, just like Jack had. “You’re going to share that, actually, right?”

“Of course. With everyone except Jack.”

Davey nodded, and went back to the food he was cooking. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Jack gasped in mock-offense, and sat down on the couch. “Excuse you, I deserve it too. Just because I’m happy and Katherine isn’t-”

Katherine hit his arm gently and joined him on the couch. “Okay, okay,” she said. “How are you guys doing?”

“We’re good,” Jack nodded, glancing up to Davey, who nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, we’re good. Davey’s gotten a couple essays and articles published in a few different places. There were a few online newspapers, and one physical newspaper, and then,” he paused. “What was the other one?” 

“Um, a few people wanted me as a guest writer on their blogs. Pretty little gigs, but they add up, for sure.” Davey put a plate on the table. “And Jack’s been having art club meetings every week, and he’s got a few students who love his class so much that they spend like, all of their time in his room. So yeah, I think we’re both doing well.”

Katherine smiled. “Good! I’m glad for you both. I’d ask about the toy store, but I think Crutchie’ll want to tell me about that on their own.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “For sure.”

The three of them stayed like that for a few minutes longer, Jack and Katherine watching Davey work over the top of the couch. They knew better than to offer to help, since Davey actually liked cooking for other people, and liked doing things on his own. So they listened as he described the essays and articles he’d written, and which were his favorites. And then Jack dove into a story about one of his students doing something ridiculous, and how he couldn’t even be mad because he’d done the same thing in middle school.   
Katherine loved spending time with the two of them, but they were doing well. Which made her happy, of course, but not without making her sad as well. After all, they were her friends — her best friends — but they were doing so much better than she was.   
Sure, the book store was doing good business, and it was her passion, and the love of her life, but how pathetic was it to have the love of her life be a store she owned? She was married to work, and their honeymoon phase had been over for a long time. 

As she was smiling and nodding through Jack’s story, the front door opened, and Crutchie walked in. Jack stood up and kissed them, loudly whispering a hello. 

“Dinner’s ready when you are, Crutchie,” Davey called.

Crutchie smiled at Davey, thanked him, then looked at Katherine. “Oh my god, I’m so happy to see you,” they leaned down and hugged her awkwardly over the couch. “I miss you so much every day.”

Katherine felt a momentary wave of relief, then realized she probably shouldn’t feel grateful that her best friend was sad, even if it did mean she was less alone. “I miss you too. It’s not the same without you next door.”

“Ugh, I know. My new neighbors are nice, but nowhere near as good as you.” Crutchie made their voice louder as they walked away and started washing their hands. Katherine and Jack stood up to follow them to the kitchen table. “There’s a clothing store on one side of me, and a soap store on the other. Both owned by little old ladies.”

Katherine laughed, sitting down at the table. Next to her sat Davey, and on the other side were Crutchie and Jack. There was a plate of chicken and a plate of baked potatoes in the center of the table, and Davey had poured each of them a glass of wine. This was what felt right. Spending time with the people she loved most, not worrying about the shitty turn of events at work. 

“How’s business going?” she asked Crutchie. 

“Oh my god,” they said, grinning as they put a piece of chicken on their plate and passed the tray to Jack. “It’s going so well. The new location is working great to increase sales, and I’m just so happy with it. Plus, more sales means I can buy more toys, which means sales keep going up! So yeah,” Crutchie nodded at Katherine, who did her best to smile back. “I’m pretty happy with it.”

“I’m glad! That’s so good for you.” 

“That’s not to say,” Crutchie said quickly, obviously picking up on the tone of discontent Katherine had tried to bury under her congratulations, “that I don’t miss the old location. That street was beautiful in the morning, and this one’s kinda disgusting. When the sun would finally rise and make everything warm and yellow, even in winter-” they waved their hand, as if to indicate that the beauty was beyond words.   
“And, of course,” they smiled again and put their hand on the table, reaching out halfway to Katherine, “my best friend was only a few seconds away, every day, instead of across town. And wasn’t too busy to come over almost every night. And always had a wise word to say when I didn’t know what to do about boys.”

Katherine touched the top of their hand gratefully. 

“Kath, how’s business at your store?” Jack asked, either genuinely interested in the answer or ignorantly unaware of how much Crutchie’s words had just affected her. 

She grimaced and cut open the potato on her pate. “Um, it’s been okay. Last week, business was good. End of school and the beginning of summer makes everyone want to sit and read for pleasure again, so sales went up a little. But then this coffee shop moved in right next to me, where Crutchie’s shop used to be, and the construction noises are so loud that no one’s coming in to buy books. Seriously,” she popped food in her mouth, “it’s like the whole block has cleared out.”

Jack hummed slowly. “That sucks. Still though, a coffee shop? That’ll be nice to have next door.”

“It would be,” Katherine agreed, “if the owner wasn’t so annoying. She honestly has no regard for other people around her. Yesterday, she knocked a whole box of books out of my arms, and ruined a couple of books. I can’t sell those anymore!” 

Davey looked at her and leaned forward, his forehead covering in wrinkles. “Is she really that bad?”

“Yeah, she is! She acts like she deserves to be one of the shop owners on the block, when that was already a well-established group of people. It isn’t her place to take. She’s not one of us, even if she thinks she is. And, she’s running a space-themed coffee shop, which is the most pretentious thing I can think of.”

“Huh,” Davey chewed his food thoughtfully. “What did you say her name was?”

“I don’t think I said her name,” Katherine sighed. “But her name’s Sarah.”

Jack’s head shot straight up. “Wait a second, Davey, is that-”

“Yeah, Jack,” Davey interrupted, almost shouting so that he could stop Jack from talking. “Just wait a second, okay?”

Katherine put down her fork. “What?”

“Nothing,” Davey insisted, and at the same time, Crutchie opened their mouth, looking like they wanted to launch into an in-depth explanation. 

“What’s going on? I deserve an explanation, right?” 

“Yeah, you do,” Crutchie answered. “Davey?”

Davey sighed. “Okay, so Sarah who opened the coffee shop where Crutchie’s store used to be is the same Sarah who is, um,” he picked up his glass and talked into it, “my older sister.”

Katherine deflated. “You’re kidding me.”

“Nope,” Davey shook his head. “I actually was the one who told her about the storefront for sale. I thought it would be a good place for her to open her business, and we could get her connected with the other business owners. And I thought you and her would get along well. Apparently,” he looked ashamed, “I was wrong.”

“You were pretty wrong, Davey, what the fuck?” Katherine asked. “I don’t know why you wouldn’t tell me that.”

He sat up straighter and pulled his hands off the table. “I didn’t think I’d need to, I guess. And I’m sorry you hate her, but I think you should give her another chance. Whatever she’s done, she definitely doesn’t know she did it. She’s my sister. I know her better than anyone. She’s probably lonely, and anxious about the store, and-”

“And she’s not welcome, David. You can’t fix that by telling me about her.” Katherine stood up. “I can’t stay. You’re just going to keep trying to convince me, or you’ll be mad at me, and I can’t be here while you’re pissed. Thank you very much for dinner,” she pushed in the chair. “I’d leave the wine as a gift, but I think I need it right now. I hope you can understand.”

With that, she grabbed the wine bottle, screwed the cap closed, pulled her bag over her shoulder, and walked out through their apartment door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaa rip   
> i'm debating if I should include the other shop owners in a scene somewhere. maybe they could be some of the other newsies, or possibly some ocs? i'd love to know what people think.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops it's been a month since I updated this. I'll try harder next time, but I make no promises

A few days after she stormed out of her friends’ apartment, Katherine sat in her shop, watching a few customers browse. Now that the construction next door was over, business was booming again. In the children’s section, a brother and sister hotly debated which Harry Potter book was best. In the poetry section, a teenager, probably a young college student, kept picking up different books written by female poets through the major eras of poetry. And in the local authors section, an elderly woman examined a ghost story written by someone from the neighboring town.   
She loved this atmosphere of peace and intellectualism. The fact that everyone here would learn something, improve themself, or enjoy a story meant so much to her. Still, once the mother of the two kids broke up the argument and said she would buy them each one book that wasn’t Harry Potter, and the store got quieter, she couldn’t help but let her mind wander. 

She hadn’t heard from Jack, Davey, or Crutchie since she’d been at their apartment, and it hurt to be so isolated from her best friends. She couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t texted at least one of them on any given day. Part of her understood why they hadn’t texted her. If someone had yelled at her like she had yelled at Davey, she wouldn’t talk to them either. Still, it hurt to know that they were so upset at her, and that they thought it was okay to abandon her. She had thought their friendship was stronger than some harsh words said in anger. 

And it wasn’t like her grudge against Sarah was unjustified, even if she was Davey’s sister. She was annoying, and had taken away business from Katherine’s store for three days in a row. That didn’t seem like much, but she had lost thousands of dollars in her first three months of being open. Running a local bookstore was hard, and now that she was finally turning a profit, she didn’t want to have to deal with any slow days that could be preventable. Sarah had also cost Katherine money by ruining the few books that dropped on the ground. Sure, she got discounts for ordering them in bulk, so it wasn’t like she wouldn’t make up the cost, but it hurt not to be able to profit as much as she would have otherwise.   
Katherine sighed, knowing that if she said this out loud to anyone, especially Jack, they would all say the same thing: she sounded like her dad.   
Being so much like her dad wasn’t something she was proud of. Sure, his business was successful, and she wanted hers to be as well, but there was more to it. He’d gotten there on the backs of people he underpaid, discriminated against, and undervalued. Katherine had made a point not to do that, and in fact to take responsibility on herself. She’d only been able to hire one employee (who had since quit to move away to college), but she made sure to pay them the wage that they requested, and give them as much time off as she could.   
Katherine knew that she wasn’t her dad. She was a good person, even if she got upset about Sarah stealing some of her profits. After all, running a small, local business was completely different than a national news empire. If her dad lost millions of dollars, it didn’t make a difference. If she lost a few hundred, it changed her day-to-day life for months. They were not the same. 

-

She rang up three books for the mother with the children (one about dinosaurs and one about princesses for the kids, and one that was an adult thriller for the mother), and two books for the elderly woman. Finally, she sold a rainbow pride enamel pin to the teenager, who told her how much they wanted a new book of poetry but didn’t have the money in their budget. 

“Well,” Katherine told them, smiling in a way she thought was sly, “maybe I’ll have a poetry sale in a few weeks. I mean, national poetry month is over, but there’s no reason not to appreciate poets some more.”

“That would be amazing.” The teenager’s face lit up. “I seriously need to read something other than the dead white men we’ve been reading in class this past year.”

Katherine laughed. “I hear that,” she said, and passed them a piece of paper asking them to sign up for her email list. They wrote down their information and left, leaving her to the lunchtime lull. 

At noon exactly, the bell above the door dinged, and she looked up to greet the new customer.  
But it wasn’t a customer. It was Crutchie, and they looked nervous. 

“Hey,” she said quietly, as if she was afraid she might frighten them, and they’d run away like a scared animal. “I’m glad to see you.”

“Hi, Katherine,” they said back, voice unwavering. She could see them swallow their nerves and make the choice to look her in the eye. 

“How are you?”

“I’m-” they faltered, then, and fiddled with the ridges on the grip of their crutches. “I’m okay. Not as upset with you as I was, and definitely not as upset as Davey still is. But alright, anyways. How are you? I know it’s been a few days.”

Katherine hated hearing that her friends were still upset. “I’m hanging in there. It sucks not having you guys to text when something interesting happens here. But it’s okay.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way,” Crutchie said, and stepped more into the store. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry we didn’t tell you about Sarah being Davey’s sister. But I also think it’s unreasonable to blame us for it. I mean, come on, Katherine. We hadn’t talked for weeks by the time that Sarah moved in next door, and I didn’t think it would matter that much. I didn’t even know until last week, when Davey told me.”

“I know. I get it.” Katherine touched Crutchie’s shoulder. “I think I mostly just got upset because I miss having you next door, and I was upset that I didn’t know earlier. So thank you for apologizing and making me come to my senses.”

Crutchie made a face that wasn’t quite a smile. “Yeah, well. Jack’s birthday is coming up, and we’re having a party this Saturday night. We’d like it if you could come.”

She took the piece of paper that they gave her, and didn’t even look at the information on the card. “I’ll be there,” she said.

“Great. Can’t wait,” Crutchie replied. “Even if you didn’t actually ever apologize to me or Davey, we’ll all be happy to see you.”  
Then they waved, turned, and left the bookstore. 

Katherine was too happy to feel guilty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was kind of a filler chapter, but the next one is going to be fun!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO. MUCH. DIALOGUE.

The last time she had been in front of Jack, Crutchie, and Davey’s door, things hadn’t ended well. So Katherine forgave herself for being nervous. She lifted a shaky hand to the door handle, which was just underneath a sign that said ‘come in, it’s open!’ Above that read another sign, this one scrawled in Davey’s handwriting: “Happy Birthday Jack!”

Inside, it was like the chaos of her mind had come to life. People everywhere were talking, laughing, and yelling just to be heard. If she focused, she could see people she knew. Spot, Albert, Elmer, and Race were together on the couch, which wasn’t a surprise. They were shouting at each other, and at Blink and Mush, who sat pooled together on one chair. It seemed like the six of them were arguing about something or other, but they were all laughing too, so it must not have been too serious. Medda, Jack’s mother, was standing with her arms around him, talking gleefully to Davey and Crutchie. Specs and Buttons were getting snacks, while Romeo, Henry, and Jojo poured drinks. Smalls, Finch, and Sniper were playing some game at the kitchen table, and Sniper was yelling about how she should have won.   
And standing next to Davey, looking a little uncomfortable, was Sarah.   
Katherine thought about leaving as soon as she saw her. She hadn’t talked to anyone yet, so she had all the freedom in the world to turn on her heel, leave the present at the door, and go home. Better yet, she could just come back tomorrow and say that she got the dates mixed up, or that she had another obligation but still wanted to give Jack the book on LGBT+ artists that she’d bought for him. 

But then, Spot looked up from his shouting match and saw her.   
“Katherine!” he yelled, and bolted over the back of the couch, throwing both of them into a hug.   
She laughed, hugged him back, and waved to the people who shouted hellos at her. Of all the responses she could have gotten, that was not one that she expected. She thought that Jack, Davey, and Crutchie would have told everyone about how they weren’t very happy with her, and that their loyal friend group would have ignored her or wanted her to leave. But people seemed happy to see her.   
Once Spot let go of her, she made her way over to Jack. 

“Hey, Kath,” he said, and grinned. Genuinely grinned. “I’m glad you made it.”

“Me too,” she said, and tried to mimic his honesty. “Happy birthday.”

Davey cleared his throat. “Um, that-” he pointed to the gift she was holding “-can go over in the corner with the others.”

“Oh, sounds good,” she smiled, and put it in the pile he indicated. 

Davey didn’t smile back, and didn’t even look at her. Evidently, he was not over all of what had happened.   
Seeing him angry at her like that really cut deep. Since the first day she met Davey, she knew that the two of them were kindred spirits. They bonded over loving books and Crutchie, and being annoyed by Jack while also loving him to death. Often, Davey came by the bookstore to see _her_ , and not his boyfriends. He liked to talk about the notebooks she was getting for the store, and take first pick of them when he could. He went through a lot of notebooks, since he had one in each room and was constantly scribbling ideas.   
After being such good friends with him for so long, not having him by her side at this giant party crushed her. She looked back at the present she’d left on the pile, poured herself a glass of wine, and went to sit in the farthest chair she could find, away from as many people as possible. Maybe if she was distant from the party, Davey would see how miserable she was and forgive her out of sympathy. She wasn’t too proud to hope for pity points. 

Thankfully, it seemed to work out. Race, Albert, and Elmer all saw her sipping her wine alone and looked away kindly, as did Blink and Mush. Spot turned to look at her, and shot her a thumbs up symbol and a questioning face. When she nodded, he mouthed “okay,” and went back to his own conversation.

Unfortunately, not everyone understood her want to be left alone. 

“Katherine!” someone shouted at her. 

She raised her head to see Specs on their way over to her chair, and she stood up, bracing herself for what was coming.   
They wrapped her in a tight hug and swayed from side to side. 

“It’s been too long! How are you?” they asked, and she sighed.

“I’m great, thanks for asking,” she lied, smiling and hoping she could pull it off. “How are you?”

Specs pulled back. “I’m good, but you’re not telling me the truth. What’s really going on?”

Katherine groaned. Ever since the two of them had met a few years ago, Specs had always known when she was lying or telling the truth. Specs had been the first person to tell her that she might be bisexual, back when they were in their freshman year of college, drunk off their asses, and she wouldn’t stop talking about a girl in her anthropology class. When she said she didn’t think she could be bi, they yelled “bullshit!” at the top of their lungs. How loud they were almost got them both caught by the RA, but it had been worth it. The next morning, she left a note on Specs’s desk before they were actually awake: “Have a horrible hangover, going back to my dorm room. Left a few advil for you. Drink lots of water. I’m definitely bi.”

“I hate Davey’s sister,” she told them, “and I told Davey that, and now he’s pissed at me.”

They blinked in surprise. “How do you know Davey’s sister? And why do you hate her?”

“She owns the new coffee shop next to my store. Where Crutchie’s store used to be. And she’s inconsiderate and noisy and a nuisance.” 

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”

Katherine couldn’t help but whine. “And now she’s here, and I feel like Davey’s never going to forgive me, and I completely fucked up, and none of them actually want me here, and I don’t know what to do, and-”

“Wait, she’s here?” Specs asked, and turned their head around wildly. “Where?”

Katherine looked up. “She’s over with Jack and Crutchie.”

“Oh, you mean Sarah? I didn’t realize she’s Davey’s sister. I talked to her earlier and she seems nice. Really sweet. Actually, now that you mention it, she acts a lot like Davey does. Similar mannerisms.” 

Katherine hummed sadly. 

“She’s pretty, too.”

“Ugh!” Katherine swiveled her head to look directly at Specs. “How can you be so nice to her after I’ve said that I hate her? Why would you do that to me, Specs?”

Specs held up both of their hands. “I just said that she seems nice, and she’s pretty. You’re the one who needs everyone else to believe exactly what they believe, and gets upset when someone has a different opinion. Plus, she’s got a lot in common with Davey, and you love Davey, so maybe you’d love her, too!”

Katherine scoffed. “You’ve lost your mind.”

“Maybe so. But maybe there’s a reason you hate her so much, and it’s not actually hatred.”

“Absolutely not,” Katherine shook her head. “And I’m done talking to you.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Specs grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “You should just try to have, like, one civil and nice conversation with her. I dare you.”

Katherine was many things. Thoughtful, intelligent, and analytic were all words that came to mind. However, impulsive, proud, and irrational also fit the bill. As such, she was never one to turn down a dare. Of course, Specs knew this better than anyone. In college, they knew she had a crush on a girl named Savannah, and they had once dared her to ‘like’ every Facebook post she had made in the past year. And Katherine had done it, which resulted in some weird looks from Savannah, and probably ruined any chance she might have had of dating her.   
Despite having made that bad decision in the past, Katherine still couldn’t turn down the dare. 

“Fine,” she snapped. “A two minute conversation. With her, and with-” she looked over to see who was with Sarah “-Davey and Jack.”

“Sounds good to me,” Specs grinned, and grabbed her arm again. “Let’s go.”

Katherine let herself be dragged along with them, already dreading what she was about to have to do. 

“Hi, Jack, Davey, Sarah!” Specs said, irritatingly loud. “I haven’t really gotten to talk to you tonight. How are you guys? What do you think of the party?”

“I think it’s great!” Sarah gushed. “I don’t know what it is about a birthday party that I love so much, but they’re honestly like, my favorite event. Everyone gets together to celebrate one person and how much they love them, you know?”

Specs’s voice went soft. “That’s such a sweet way to think of that. Don’t you think so, Katherine?”

Everyone in the group turned to look at her expectantly. 

“Yeah, Katherine,” Davey asked pointedly. “Isn’t that sweet?”

Katherine had to swallow her instinct to rail against Sarah. “It is sweet. The way I grew up, birthday parties were big and fake, and all centered on how much the person having a birthday loved themself. It’s nice to think that it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Davey, Jack, and Sarah all looked surprised. 

“Oh, wow. That’s - that’s a big difference then, huh?” Sarah asked. 

“It is, yeah. Honestly, being friends with these guys-” Katherine gestured around herself “-has made me rethink a lot of what I learned growing up.”  
She glanced at Davey and Jack, whose jaws were practically on the floor. She guessed that neither of them expected her to be cordial to Sarah, or to talk about her childhood. _Well_ , she thought smugly, _they didn’t know her well enough to predict her every move_. 

“Anyways, happy birthday, Jack. I should head out. I have a long day tomorrow.” Katherine patted the birthday boy on his shoulder, trying to make her exit as painless as possible. “Thanks for having me over, guys, it really means a lot. Enjoy the gift, and I’ll say goodbye to Crutchie on my way out.”

“Yeah, sure-” she heard Davey start to say, but she smiled at him and turned away. She’d said goodbye to Crutchie (which hadn’t taken long) and Race and Spot (which had) and had her hand on the doorknob when she heard her name. 

“Katherine, wait, just hold on for a minute!” 

Sarah was following her, holding out her phone. “Will you put your number in my phone? I know we’re not close or anything, but it could be handy to have each other’s numbers.”

It may have been that they were standing in Davey’s living room and she wanted to be nice to Davey, or that everyone was watching her, or that she was still taking Specs’s advice about being nice to Sarah, but Katherine took the outstretched phone and entered her number. She even went as far as to text herself from Sarah’s phone. Nothing big, just a “this is Sarah’s number.”

“Thanks so much!” Sarah beamed. “Now if we need something, we can just text each other!”

“Yeah, for sure. See you later.”

Katherine stepped outside, making sure the door closed behind her. She cleared the notification of the text from Sarah off of her lockscreen, and shook her heart. Just because she was nice to Sarah didn’t mean she _liked_ her. If anything, it was a favor to Davey and a way to win a dare against Specs.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!! Leave a kudo and/or comment to tell me how you felt about it! And come say hi on tumblr @aintweproudriff or @lesbianpomatter!


End file.
